THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 



A 



ADVENTISTS. The several denominations 

 of Adventists in the United States trace their 

 origin to the preaching of William Miller, who 

 predicted about 1840, as the result of his stud- 

 ies of the prophecies of Scripture and the cal- 

 culations deduced therefrom, that the second 

 coming of Christ should be looked for in 1843 

 or 1844. They agree in the expression of the 

 belief that the visible personal second coming 

 of Christ is near at hand, but are divided, on 

 other points of doctrine, into four branches, 

 the most numerous of which are the Second 

 Advent Christians, numbering about fifty thou- 

 sand members. The distinctive features of 

 their belief are " the doctrine of the immediate 

 personal coming and reign of Christ on the 

 earth ; holiness of heart ; the unconscious state 

 of the dead ; their literal resurrection ; and the 

 final destruction of the wicked." The Evan- 

 gelical Adventists, numbering about nine thou- 

 sand members, differ from these, in holding to 

 the conscious state of the dead, and the eternal 

 conscious suffering of the wicked. The Sev- 

 enth-Day Adventists, who have about fifteen 

 thousand five hundred members, hold that the 

 sanctuary to be cleansed is not the earth, but 

 the heavenly sanctuary ; that Christ will come 

 as soon as he completes his " investigative 

 judgment " to ascertain who of the dead are 

 worthy of the first resurrection, and who of 

 the living of translation. Satan is then to 

 reign in the earth a thousand years, after which 

 the earth will be redeemed and fitted to be the 

 dwelling-place of the saints. The Life and 

 Advent Union holds to the life in Christ only, 

 and the non-resurrection of the wicked dead. 



SECOND ADVENT CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

 The Second Advent Christians have, until the 

 last year, been represented by two distinct or- 

 ganizations, one for the East and one for the 

 West. Representatives of both branches of 

 the denomination were invited by the Eastern 

 Association to meet at Worcester, Massachu- 

 setts, in a National Convention, "for the pur- 

 pose of considering a proper system of organiz- 

 VOL. xxi. 1 A 



ing churches and a declaration of principles." 

 The convention met April 6th, and was at- 

 tended by ninety-three delegates from the 

 New England States, New York, Pennsylva- 

 nia, and Canada. A declaration of principles 

 respecting creed and church organization and 

 a form of " advisory covenant " were adopt- 

 ed. The first four articles of the declara- 

 tion state the commonly received " orthodox " 

 doctrine of the Scriptures and the Trinity. 

 The fifth article declares that Christ died to 

 save men from eternal death, the penalty of 

 violated law ; that the redemption he provided 

 is twofold " redemption of all men from 

 the penalty of Adam's sin, by the resurrection 

 of the dead ; second, the redemption of be- 

 lievers from personal sin and its consequences." 

 The sixth, seventh, and eighth articles treat of 

 repentance, of baptism (concerning which it is 

 said that pardoned believers should be "buried 

 with Christ in baptism," to show their belief 

 in the resurrection of Christ and the dead), of 

 the Lord's Supper, and the personal return of 

 Christ. The tenth article expresses belief in 

 the everlasting destruction of the finally im- 

 penitent, and the final extinction of all evil. 

 The eleventh article declares that the coming 

 of Christ is near at hand. The twelfth and 

 thirteenth articles express the belief that the 

 earth will be made over to be the future abode 

 of the saints, and that all church action should 

 point to the personal coming of Christ. In 

 the " advisory covenant " the Bible is accepted 

 as the only rule of faith, and liberty of thought 

 is permitted, with a reservation, for the protec- 

 tion of the privilege of a refusal of sanction 

 to the " persistent urging of doctrinal themes" 

 not " essential to salvation." The articles on 

 the subject of church organization approve 

 the congregational system. 



A conference of Second Advent Christians 

 representing six States, met at Foreston, Illi- 

 nois, in June, and adopted resolutions on 

 church organization ; a declaration of princi- 

 ples in harmony with that set forth at Wor- 



